Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-02-23
The Panama Canal.

AHS ioiioWlng Is stranSiated from tn
French ofour esteemed contemporary
lie Progres. of last Saturday, writtel
by Its accomplished editor Mr.. Chas
Raskin:
The construction Of the Panam,
canal, pending its progress, inspire
Out little confidence with a grea
number of Americans. One of ou
esteemed conireres of the American
press, the Porcupine, of Los Angeles
Indulges in its issue of last Saturda,
in the following reflections upon the
grand project of Mr.. de Lesseps:
" In the long agowe became fam.
iliar with the Isthmus of Panama, its
miasms, miserable and cut-throat
inhabitants, Its railroad, then Jus,
finished. and We were at the time
and still continue TO be firmly i'm.
pressed with the idea that the two
oceans will never be united at tina,
point by canal. The basis of ou,
opinion was that the laboring popula-
tion of the world would become ex.
hausted before the end could be
accomplished. We believe now, and
the world is arriving at the conclu.
sion. that the de Lesseps' scheme
will prove to be the biggest failure OF
the age, and that the canal will never
be etinished. Unlocked for engineering
obstacles have bafiied successful oper-
ations and the operators are running
amuck. The mortality is more than
fearful, and thousands of laborers
die. their places are filed with other
thousands who die, and one month
rs about the maximum of a mans
lifetime a: Panama. MIR. L. p. Wales
arrived here on Monday from New
York, via the Isthmus, where he laid
over for u few days and made obser-
vatlons. He SAYS that so far as SUBJ
stantial work goes, nothing practi-
cally has been accomplished. That
millions upon millions of dollars
worth OF machinery cover and en-
cumber the ground, all of which is
being eaten up and destroyed by the
rust caused by the tropical damps
of the country. Had Dante lived in
sAS fsAOcSht af-Cs anu tloltCu L alfalfa
at the present time, his mind could
have conceived a far better hell than
the one described in his immortal
work. No hell can beat, for diaboli-
cal hellishness, Panama as it nov
is
"The remarks of our contemporary
are full of good sense and clearness,
but the conclusion seems TO us the
depth OF pessimism. From its incep.
tion the enterprise of Mr.. de Lesseps
has had abundant adversaries. The
work, also, has encountered and will
hereafter encounter numerous OBJ
stacles, but We are not inclined to
think that these are sufficient reasons
for despairing OF ultimate success.
The Panama canal is a work of inn
mense utility. The benefits of the
enterprise seem destined to endure as
long as the world lasts. But it is also
evident that the project, the grandesi
that has ever been undertaken, will
perhaps not be executed without a
great amount OF sacrifices. Some
thousands OF men are dead and will
die in the undertaking, but how many
thousands of men have been sacri-
feed in arms to satisfy the ambitious
pretensions of certain monarchs? Is
not the work at Panama infinitely
more precious than any war waged
no one knows for whom nor why? Sc
in this Nineteenth Century, this age
OF progress and civilization, should
there be required the Drawn of some
thousands OF brave aad courageous
laborers, would it not be wise and
laudable action were the authorities
of the various countries to open theil
great prisons and transport the board.
ers on the governments to the field ol
Panama? To these might well be
added the battalions of beggars and
tramps which the police daily en-.
counter upon the streets. Indeed, il
all these depraved beings succum bed
to the labor it would be a loss little
felt by either present or future So
ciety, and, in an economical point ol
view, it would be relief to the
treasury OF the taxpayers.
1.-The mortality at Panama is very
great. This is due to the insaiuority
of climate, which has reached tine
highest intensity since the com
mencemen; of the work, operating a:
it does as sort OF drainage of regions
gorged with stagnant water. The
hygiene OF physics demonstrates t,
us that the drainage of humid place:
determines a current of pure air which
favors the combustion of organic
principles Of organisms, the fermen
tation OF soluble or living matter, il
other terms, which engenders infec
tious maladies.
"We have frequent example sol tn.
disasters occasioned by miasmas il
marshy places from drawing off thu
water. Water, air and the sun ar,
the three vehicles of all epidemics
and it is not necessary to recur t.
what is passing at Panama in ordel
to understand the terrible effects o
the insalubrious changes going on.
at Paris, in 1865, all the Mont
martre quarter was infected by ;
cholera epidemic, and it sufiices te
state that in the sewers of that quar-
ter were substituted the pure wate
OF the river D'Huys in lieu OF tn,
ancient impure distributions, il
order to understand the immediat,
bad results; but during the yea
following that quarter was the onl,
one exempt from cholera, which in
vaded all the rest of Paris. A
Brussels the typhoid fever decimate,
equally the Leopold quarter, wher
were opened some of the close
sewers imperfectly flooded, Blu
wherever these epidemics prevail i
is sufficient to point out the causes II
order to understand the effects.